Sleeve-valve-operating mechanism



Oct. 21, 1.930.

. Filed Jan. 25,v 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1` vvlarly where it is sought to as I l the less true that the gearing employe patntedjOec 21, 1.930 y Beam IIACPBLAII. .or DETROIT, MIGIIIGAN, .as'sIeNon To coNTIN'ENTAL IIoTons conPonATIomoF DETROIT, MIGHIGAN, A coiaIcinaTIolyr o1? VIRGINIA sLEEvE-vALvE-OI'ERATING MEciIANIsII appucauqn mea January 25, 1926. serial misura.

/My invention relatesto an improved form of operating mechanism, .for sleeve valves lof internal '.combustion'fengines, of thetype where a sleeve having both reciprocatory and 5 rotary motion is employed in connection with each piston of a'motorvof the reciprocatory type, for the purpose of controlling the open ing and closing of inlet and exhaust ports to the power chamber communicating with the piston. v i \My. operating mechanism is particularly applicable where the motion imparted to the valve sleevey is such that any point on the sleeve travels in a path that is a` closed curve, in which case the rotary and reciprocatory motions of the sleeve are combined to produce such resultant motion. My present inl vention is not, concerned with any particular construction of motor excepting that its inlet and exhaust ports shall -be controlled by vsleeves of the kind described, which sleeves may be locatedrelatively to the power cham- 4 lbers of the motor and cooperate with the ports thereof in any mannerbest suited to the construction and performance of the motor in f l,ny particular case* I am aware thatl mecha- -Lni'sms of diiferent kinds have been'proposed 'heretofore for operating sleeves of the kind y under consideration, and that 1n many cases 30 vto secure compact and effective drive mecha- ,nisms, gearsmhave been employed to transmit and change the' direction of ,the necessary motions and driving efforts required, particuhouse the sleeve "operating mechanism in small space. Whilev these earlier constructions have been found to operate with some degree of success, it isnprne equently introduces undesirable complication both from the structural and operating standpoints. tion to produce an operating mechanism that will effectively communicate both longitudinal and rotary motion to the sleeves of the mechanism is compact andvpqsitive in action points for adequate bearingsurfaces to prevent undue bearing pressuresv and consequent It is an object of my present inven- V cycle. motor without-the use of toothed gears .of any kind, the construction being such that 'the wear and loose connections. `'These results are secured by ydriving all of the sleeves of a multicylinder motor from a common shaftoperated from the main crank shaft of the motor, the vsleeve operating 4shaft being provided with a wobble crank for each sleeve connected by a connectingrod and leverfwith the corresponding sleeve to impart motion in two directions to it. -My invention will best be understood reference yto the accompanying j drawings showing a preferred embodiment thereof in ,which Fig.' 1 shows a multicylinder motor in plan view equipped with my sleeve operating mechanism, the cylinder portion of the motor being illustrated diagrammati'cally, this view being taken along thefline 1-1 in F ig.v2, an f' Fig. 2 isa sectional view of the parts shown in- Fig. 1 taken along 'the line 2-24.

Similar numerals 'refer to similar parts throughout the several views. A v l As shown in Fig. 1, fa cylinder block is Iilllustrated dagrammati'cally at 10, -which as therein in parallel arrangement to receive the valve' sleeves. 1,5, 16, 17fand 18 respectively, the bores of the sleeves ireceiving in turnthe pistons 19,20,v 21 a1`1d222 respectively of the a plurality of bores 11,12, 13 and 14.

motor.I These pistons -ar'e connected in the i usual ,manner with a crank shaft 23 for de- 'o'rank case, 24, which besides supporting the crankshaft 23'also-supports a sleeve operat- Y ing shaft 25 with its axis parallel. with the "'jaxisvof the lcrank shaft lThe shafts 23 and 25a1'e connected by gears or equivalent driving devices, y two, to drive the shaft 25 at half the speed of the shaft 23, where the operation is four- The crank case 24 is provided with bearings 28, 29, 30,31 and 32 for the shaft 25,'and between these bearings and substantially opposite the v mid portions laterally o the sleeves, the shaft 25 is provided with wobble cranks 33, 34, 35 and 36 respectively, these 26 and 27 in the 'ratioof one tov 32. The wobble cranks in their axial projec- Y L .tion are within the diameter dimension of the rcrankcase bearings. The axis of the wobble crank bearings preferably lie substantially in the plane of the parting surface or connection between the crankcase and cylinders as shown f in Fig. 2.

' The construction of each of the wobble cranks, and the operating connections extending from it to the corresponding valve sleeve are the same in each case, the only difference being that they are angularly displaced from each other on the operating shaft to properly time the operation of the valve sleeves" 1 5, 16, 17 and 18 relatively to each other, de-

pending upon the ringorderfdesired. As. ja result it will be necessary to` describe but one of these operating mechanisms for ex' ample that employed with the valve sleeve 18, which is more clearly shown in vertical sectional View in Fig. 2. As shown in 'this ligure, the lower end of the connecting rod 40 carries a spherical bearing socket 41 which is a turning fit on a spherical portion 42 of a. lever 43, the end of which is of spherical shape.

as shown at 44 and engaged with a turning fit bya socket support 45. The spherical portion 42 may be slidable on lever 43 or may be fixedthereto. With the parts proportioned as 4shown the portion 42 maybe fixed to the lever. The spherical ball portion 42 may be located at any position between the extrem- K ities of lever 43 dependingA on'- the leverage desired. The construction described permits free relative turning movement 1n any dlrecp tion between the ,connecting rod and the lever 43 and between the lever 43 and its supporting socket ,45. The other end of the lever 43 is of reduced diameter as indicated at 46 and a sliding fit in a spherical bea-ring member 47.having;its outer surface a turning t ina spherical socket 48 carried by and extending from the lower end of the sleeve 18.

It will benoted that the crank 36 is a cymelnberrfrom theV ends of which, asindicated in Fig. 1, shoulders on the shaft 25 extend outwardly and ractically at right angles to .the surface of t e crank, and that the upper end of the connecting rod 40 closely tsfbetween said shoulders around ,the cylindrical crank; also that in itslowermost position, indicated'in Fig. 1 the crank is in- 'I V- clined somewhat-to a vertical plane passing the axisl of the operatingshaft 25. v eye ect .of this relatiomfor either the lowerm'o'stor uppermost position of the connectmg rod 40,1s Itherefore Ato turn the connecting fas' 'rod somewhatonjits vertical axis, which is freely permitted bythe connection between the lower end of the connecting rod and the lever 43. In `passing from its'lowermost position to its uppermost position, however, for any intermediate position of the crank 36 its -axis is inclined to a greater or less degree to a horizontalplane passing through. thehaxis of the operating shaft 25 and this inclination serves to rock'thelewer end of the connecting rod 40 longitudinally of the shaft 25, carrying the mid portion of the' lever 43 with it, 75 this rocking motion taking place about the mid point of the crank 36 as a center. The crank 36 thus imparts motion. in two directions to the lever 43, first the motion longitudinally of the shaft 25r ju t described and sec- 8 ond a motion laterally of the shaft 25 due to the eccentricity of the crank 36 relatively to the shaft 25.

As a result of the operating connectionsfA above described' between the crank 36 and-85 the sleeve 18, a4 complete cycle of operation of the sleeve may be traced as follows: With the crank v36 in its lowermost position, the connecting rod 40 is in the mid position of ,its

rocking movement and the sleeve 18 is there- 90 fore in its mid position angularly and at the [lowermost point of its travel longitudinally;

whenthe shaft25lias rotated a quarter of a turn, the sleeve 18 has been raised to the mid position of its longitudinal movement and at the same time the wobble action'of the crank 36 has rocked the lower end of the connecting yrod 40 to one of its extreme positions longitudinally of the shaft 25, thus rotating the Asleeve 18 to one extreme ofv its angular move- 10 ment; when the assumed rotation'of the shaft 25 has completed a half rotation, therocking movement ofthe connecting rod40 has again brought the lower endof the connecting rod to its mid position longitudinally of the shaft 25 and therefore hasl moved thesleeve 18 to the mid position of-its angular movement and the eccentricity of the crank 36 has moved the sleeve 18 to the extreme upper position of its longitudinal movement; continued ro- 114 tation of the shaft 25 through another quar- Jter rotation, by the wobble action of the crank 36 moves the sleeve 18- angularly tothe opposite extreme of its angular movement and at some time brings the sleeve to its mid po- 11.`

sition longitudinally; 'and the remaining quarter rotation of the assumed cycle of movement of the operating shaft rotates the sleeve 18 back to its midposition angularly due to the wobble action of vthe crank 36 and l12 to the lowermost point /o its longitudinal travel by the eccentric: action of the crank A36, thus bringing the sleeve back to its assumed starting point. The motion described,

it will be observed, results 'in any point on 12 the sleeve tracing a closed curved path relatively tothe motor cylinder, whichis a condition to be desired to reduce thenecessary Y travel oftle sleeve-to a minimum and yet-v `provide for a quick opening and closing of 1E the several ports controlledby the sleeve, and further to impart movement tolthe sleeve of a kind conducive vto thorough lubrication of the sleeve surfaces moving in contact with/ 43, as stated before Vand that the amount ofangular movement of the sleeve 18 is determined by the amount 'by whichr the crank 36' departs from parallelismwith the axis of the shaft 25, the center(to center length of the connecting rod 40, and the proportioningfof'y reciprocating and oscillating movement tc fthe lever 43.

` It will be observed thatthe operating shaft f 2,5.may if desired be constructed from a sinbuilt up, but in any event when completed it constitutes a single vstructure having no partsI movable relatively to each other. Itv will also bel observed that all of the bearingsur;`

. insuring stability and efficient operation.

Again all'of the operatingv mechanism for the sleeves is closely associated, forms a compact Aunit and occupies smal-1-sp'ace as a whole' in the motor structure. n

In' Fig. 2 I haveaillustrated the sleeve 18 as provided with inlet and. exhaust ports 50 and 51 respectively for communication with correspond-ing ports 52 and 53 in the cylinder block 14 for connection in the usual manner with the manifolds not'fshown, of the motor, it beingunderstood that these ports .are merely illustrative and diagrammatic to indicate the nature of operation of" the sleeve 18, also that the other sleeves, are similarly provided with inlet and exhaust ports in anymanner dictated by the vconstruction and design of the particular motor with which my sleeve operatingmechanism is em.- ploved. n

By the term mid-portion as used in the specification and claims applying to the location of the spherical .portion 42, I mean that portion of lever 43 amid its extremities, i. e., that portion between the fulcrum 44/and the end 46. j f

While I have shown my invention in the particular embodiment above described, it will be understood that I do' not limit myself to this exactconstruction as I may employ equivalents known to the art at the time of the filing of this 'application without departing from the'.` scope of the appended Claims; i f y of metal, or iff preferred it may be` l'zo f tween the plston and cylinder, a crankshaft, l rods connecting the crankshaft and pistons,

said crankcase being' provided lwith la plu'y rality the longitudinal axis of thecrank shaft, a*l wobble cra-nk layshaft provided 'with alterof spaced bearings positioned abovey l nating bearings and vwobble cranks, said l crankcase bearings receiving thej layshaft bearings, means connecting the wobble crankv s and sleeve valves for imparting combined the sleevevalves, said,crankcasebearings'be ing of. suflicient interioi` ,diameter to permi., passage axiallytherethrough of thewobble crank layshaft, the wobble cranks in their axial projection lying withinsaidfcrankcase bearings.

,gine comprising'a crankcase carryingk a plu,- rality of cylinders each of whichl is 'provided' with a piston and a sleeve valve operable between the piston and cylinder, a crankshaft,

rods connecting the crankshaft and pistons,

' 2. A sleeve'-valve internal"combustionven-V said crankcase being ,provided witha plurality of spaced bearings positioned above the longitudinal axisoffthecrank shaft, a wob-A ble crank`layshaft provided with. alternat- -ing bearings and wobble cranks, said'. crankcase bearings receivingthe layshalft bearings, means connecting the wobble i, cranks and sleeve valves for `impartingcombined ref cipro'cating and oscillating movement to the sleeve valves,

sage axially therethrou h of -the wobble crank layshaft, the wob le-cranks -intheir axial projection lying withinsaid crankcasev bearings, the v axis of the wobblelayshaft bearingsv and crankcase bearings lying substantially in the plane of the connection between the cylinders and the crankcase, said said 'crankcas'ebearings being p of suiiicient interior diameter toqpermit pasl.

plane positioned-above the .connections bef tween the wobble cranks and sleeve valves. 3. A sleeve valve lnternal combustion-engine comprising a crankcase 'carrying a plurality of cylinders, each of which is provided with a. piston7 and a'sleeve valve operable between the piston and cylinder,

a crank shaft, rods connecting the vcrank.`

shaft and pistons, said vcrankcase being provided with aplurality of spacedfbearings, the intermediate spaced bearings located in planes transversely positioned with respect to lthe-longitudinal axis of the engine and extending .in a planeintermediate of said cylinders, a wobble 'crank layshaft pro- ;vided with alternating bearings and wobble' j cranks, said spaced crankcase bearings re- ,I ceiving ythe layshaft bearmgs, means con-fnecting the wobble crank and sleeve valves las for imparting acombined reciprocating and oscillatinv movement vto the sleeve valv said cranllicase bearings having an interixr :diameter suicient to permit the passage y axially therethroughfo the wobble crank layshaft, the wobble cranks in their axial projection lying- Within all .of said crankcase bearings.'

In witness whereof., I hereunto subscribe' e AREHIE MAQPHAIL NIVEN.. 

